Is staying healthy simply a matter of making the right choices? Or are those choices shaped long before we make them?

In this episode of Health Reality Check, host Dr Margarida Santos sits down with Gundo Weiler, former Director of Prevention and Health Promotion at WHO/Europe, and Allison Ekberg, Technical Officer for Noncommunicable Diseases at WHO/Europe, to unpack what prevention really means.

From bike lanes and healthier food to taxes, regulation and the information we see online, they explore how the environments around us shape our health, why prevention is often invisible when it works, and what governments, communities and individuals can do to make healthy choices easier.

Show notes / links

· WHO Constitution: What does WHO mean by “health”? Constitution of the World Health Organization
· WHO/Europe: NCD Quick Buys NCD quick buys - 25 interventions delivering public health impact in five years or less
· United Kingdom: Sugar reduction and reformulation Sugar reduction in drinks: 2015 to 2024 - GOV.UK
· Health Reality Check: Who can we trust for health information? with Dr Mike Varshavski https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CtVMH3IUVc&t
· Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion Ottawa charter for health promotion
· WHO European Healthy Cities Network WHO European Healthy Cities Network